Whatever the evolutionary basis of religion, the xenophobia it now generates is clearly maladaptive.

People are interested in science, but they don't always know they're interested in science, and so I try to find a way to get them interested.

At the heart of quantum mechanics is a rule that sometimes governs politicians or CEOs-as long as no one is watching, anything goes.

Now, almost one hundred years later, it is difficult to fully appreciate how much our picture of the universe has changed in the span of a single human lifetime. As far as the scientific community in 1917 was concerned, the universe was static and eternal, and consisted of a one single galaxy, our Milky Way, surrounded by vast, infinite, dark, and empty space. This is, after all, what you would guess by looking up at the night sky with your eyes, or with a small telescope, and at the time there was little reason to suspect otherwise.

If we wish to draw philosophical conclusions about our own existence, our significance, and the significance of the universe itself, our conclusions should be based on empirical knowledge. A truly open mind means forcing our imaginations to conform to the evidence of reality, and not vice versa, whether or not we like the implications.

Keeping religion immune from criticism is both unwarranted and dangerous.

Metaphysical speculation is independent of the physical validity of the Big Bang itself and is irrelevant to our understanding of it.